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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29222640">The Addictive Taste of Resentment</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocChipChick/pseuds/ChocChipChick'>ChocChipChick</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Angst, Co-workers, Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Found Family, Rivalry, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:56:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,639</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29222640</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocChipChick/pseuds/ChocChipChick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He worked tirelessly at a dismal restaurant close to closure. He longed to write, yet found himself unable to underneath the heavy weight of exhausation and a block in inspiration.</p><p>She was bright and determined, working herself with a strong resilience under the hard yet intellectual manager of a new restaurant that has taken New York by storm. She could spend hours basking in the calm serenity of their establishment. Clearly, the papers agreed.</p><p>But when the two managers of each restaurant decide to merge together, opposites Jake and Amy are forced to navigate the workplace in oneanothers' contrasting personality. </p><p> </p><p>Or, Enemies to Lovers Peraltiago restaurant co-worker AU.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz/Gina Linetti</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>...yeah I'm sorry, I don't think this is very good. </p><p>However my desire to write triumphs over my fear of failure and embarrassment, so here ya go: chapter one of this new Peraltiago fanfiction.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He pressed the ink down harshly, the blank page underneath darkening in rough, unneat splotches. He tried to focus on blanking his mind completely, forcing himself to rely on the feel of his hand alone. He scratched his neck harshly and groaned, begging for an idea to miraculously flood through his mind, sent directly from the heavens above, to guide him into writing the best damn piece of literature-</p><p>"Dude, are you...good?"</p><p>Jake snapped his head up, facing the blonde man standing in front of him. He could see his foot jumping up and down in impatience, yet the man's face held curiosity and concern.</p><p>He felt his face flush, "Uhhh yeah, lemme just..." His eyes flickered frantically between the man and the notebook in front of him, his shoulders tensed in awkwardness and slight discomfort. Jake hurriedly closed the tattered book, tossing it aside and sending the customer a charming-yet-uncomfortable grin.</p><p>"What was it you wanted again?" He rested his hands on top of the bar and leaned forward, directing his full attention towards the customer.</p><p>"Just need the bill man. I tried hollering you earlier but you were kinda...warped."</p><p>If possible, Jake's embarrassment grew tenfold. Without another word, he pressed a few of the digital buttons onto the machine to his right, endured an excruciatingly awkward eight second waiting period, (in which he avoided the customer's eye and tapped the theme to 'Die Hard' onto the counter with his fingers) and snatched the printed bill. He handed it to the customer, giving him a small nod. The blonde raised an eyebrow, nodded hesitantly in return and then walked away.</p><p>Jake faceplanted the bar.</p><p>He winced in pain at the collision of his admittedly larger-than-most nose against the tinted marble, cursing himself under his breath.</p><p>The waves of tiredness washed over him, and the temptation to just shut his eyes and rest grew stronger. Workdays seemed to drag on longer for him now, the frustrating combination of no customers and a severe case of writers block not helping in the slightest.</p><p>He suddenly felt a strong hand press into his shoulder, "Hey Jake, you okay man?"</p><p>Twisting around to face the huge man, Jake grinned. "Yep. No doubt. You good Ter-Bear?"</p><p>Terry narrowed his eyes at Jake in disbelief. He sighed at the latter question, choosing not to speak his answer aloud. Jake felt the energy shift, as he stared into the small flicker of exhaustion in Terry's eyes.</p><p>The larger man patted Jake's shoulder comfortingly. "Look, I know it's slow today, and maybe I've realised why." Jake's eyes lit up excitedly, yet Terry would not allow him to get a word in edgeworth. "But we need to try and keep morale up somehow. Make an effort, yeah?"</p><p>He looked to Jake for any sort of reaction, but instead saw the younger man staring back at him with pure childlike curiosity and wonder. Jake saw Terry sigh, and In one swift motion he had thrown a weighty newspaper onto the counter with a resounding thud.</p><p>Jake's eyes scanned over it eagerly, searching frantically through the endless wall of words for any clues. But his attention was redirected when Terry pointed one lean finger onto a specific article plastered onto the front page. Its dull grey writing read:</p><p>"New restaurant 'The Barrier', run by acclaimed chef Raymond Holt, has recently graced our small town. We will forever be grateful for the arrival of this seemingly god-given cuisine location, which delightfully both ignites and floods the senses through its careful yet masterful craftmanship of food. Tastebuds all over the world-"</p><p>Jake glared at the page. refusing to read on based on moral grounds. He felt disgust build up, scoffing at the <em>oh-so-perfect</em> review of their newfound enemy.</p><p>It was almost as if Terry could feel his disdain, "I wouldn't worry too much man. The popularity will die out soon enough. Trust me, the customers are coming, we just need to be ready for them when they do."</p><p>They didn't come.</p><p>In fact, they hadn't come to dine at the fearless "Terry Upscale" for a while.</p><p>Clearly, it had affected moral greatly, as the previously-steady flow of customers had practically stopped, and yet Jake still felt exhausted.</p><p>As Jake gathers up everything and heads towards the ominously-looming glass door, he can't help but catch a glance of Terry. He was desperately typing numbers into a machine, glasses hung loosely on his forehead. Endless documents and notebooks gathered together in piles, surrounding him with long, scary numbers and sophisticated words.</p><p>Jake sighed. He knew better than to disturb him, but a big part of him wanted nothing more than to drag the huge man away from the work and send him home to his wife</p><p>And it was at that moment that Jake decided to help. Not by adding new foods to the menu, or altering the interior design of the restaurant. Not by slashing prices in half (they were barely surviving already). Certainly not by working extra hard.</p><p>He decided to do what he believed he did best.</p><p>Investigate.</p><p>Jake smirked, and with a resounding thud, slammed the restaurant door closed.</p><p>Everything around him had taken on a dark cloak, except for the skinny lanterns planted alongside the pavement. It helpfully lit up the path in front of him. For some reason, Jake had always liked the night. It seemed to provide peace, a comforting serenity that simply could not be replicated by the blinding sunlight, or the busy streets of New Yorkers. He paused for a second, allowing himself to absorb the moment and just breathe.</p><p>He then began to walk, eyeing the wilted shrubs on the opposite side. The rest of the world passed by him slowly, and as he turned his back on it all, the ease that flooded through him was immeasurable.</p><p>However, Jake forced himself to push away the daydream and focus. He began to consider the 'Terry Problem', his mind whirring through what felt like thousands of different solutions. It all jumbled together, and Jake could barely construct a coherent thought at the end of it, He sighed.</p><p>Eyes dragging over the familiar worn buildings, he took notice of how their structure was beginning to collapse piece-by-piece, day-by-day. The ones next to it were identical, and Jake almost caught himself feeling sorry for a building.</p><p>A freaking building. He almost chuckled at the state of his mind, clearly exhausted from the heavy pressure of the workday.</p><p>His eyes landed on one particularly well-polished building, The walls were painted a clean white, contrasting against the smooth black door. It stood out greatly amongst the others in its row, and beckoned you towards it like a magnet. Jake paused and tilted his head in bewilderment. He pondered where that building had come from exactly, and why he hadn't noticed it beforehand.</p><p>He hummed appreciatively at the aesthetically-pleasing sight and began to turn away. But his eyes were suddenly drawn towards a large maroon sign hung proudly on the building's front, reading 'The Barrier' in bright fluorescent lights.</p><p>It was only then his dizzy mind made the connection between the front page of the newspaper, and the physical building standing tall in front of him.</p><p>The competition. Jake frowned.</p><p>Without thinking, he charged towards the door, pushing it open. He reasoned to himself that it simply could not be as perfect as the article made it out to be, right?</p><p>Wrong. Jake was flabbergasted at the beautiful sights before him.</p><p>A fountain, a lounge area, a freaking uniform?</p><p>He found himself rendered speechless for a short while until a small brunette came into his view. Her hair pulled back into a smooth ponytail, the woman glided across the counter with ease, hands working to efficiently scrub the cups clean with vigour. Her dark eyes held unwaveres focus, and every one of her movements were precise, like a practiced dance.</p><p><em>Nerd.</em> Jake scoffed. The woman's head shot up instantly, sharp eyes locating his whilst raising an eyebrow in question.</p><p>Cursing himseld, Jake gathered all of his courage and strode towards the girl. He made contact with the clean marble counter (much better quality then his restaurants') and opened his mouth to speak. He figured he must've hesitated too long, as she quickly jumped in.</p><p>"Um hello? I'm sorry sir, but we're just about to close. I'd be happy to serve you tomorrow though."</p><p>Her voice was light and incredibly elegant; so fitting for her environment.</p><p>"What? No-no I'm here as...I work at.." Jake paused, forcing himself to take a breath and release his irritation. The woman's head tilted to the left, head shaking slightly from side to side.</p><p>The calming light next to them shone out, blanketing the room in a tranquil glow. "I work at 'Terry Upscale' down the street. I wanted t'come, ya know, check out the competition and stuff."</p><p>A throaty laugh escaped from the girl's throat. Her eyes raked casually over Jake's body, and he tensed subconsciously in defence. "Yeah, I have heard about you guys. Turns out you're not doing so well, huh?"</p><p>Her eyes twinkled with mischief and mirth, and it suddenly dawned on him that she was teasing him.</p><p>Alright. If that's how she wanted to play this, then Jake was cool with that.</p><p>He placed his arms onto the counter separating them, leaning forward closer to her. She automatically recolied slightly, surprise at their new proximity evident on her face.</p><p>Jake smirked, "Yeah well, that's because you keep poaching our customers. Phh, who even wants to eat in this palace of a restaurant anyway? What are they, royals?"</p><p>"Well, yes. We treat our customers like they are. Which is more than what I've heard about your...establishment."</p><p>He frowned, "Not cool...." He leaned forward to read the nametag on her chest, proclaiming "AMY" proudly in black calligraphy. "Amy. Yeah, totally uncool, Amy."</p><p>When Jake pulled back to look at her face, a red tint had coloured her cheeks, and her eyes were stretched wide in panic and shock. However, one moment later she seemed to have pulled herself together, and focused her gaze in him once again with even more determination. "You can't dispute the truth just because you don't like it."</p><p>He unfortunately had to agree with her there. Damn, intelligent AND attractive? She sucked.</p><p>
  <em>Wait what?</em>
</p><p>Jake stopped that train of thought instantly. "Well yeah, but you don't gotta say it and hurt poor old Terry's feelings."</p><p>Amy returned to her work, now dragging a small sponge over the counter. The small suds dripped onto the rock. "Oh so that's your name? Terry?"</p><p>Jake paused, and couldn't hold back at laugh. She looked back at him quizzically and almost insulted. He cleared his throat. "Nah, my name's Jake Peralta. Though don't worry, you'll be used to it soon once it's all over the papers. "</p><p>"And why is that exactly?"</p><p>"Cause we're gonna make an epic comeback and completely blow this place outta the water"</p><p>Eyebrow raised, Amy scoffed, snickering to herself as she turned her back on him. A strange layer of irritation flooded through him. His eyebrows pinched together in annoyance at the woman's obvious disregard for the quality of their restaurant.</p><p>Well, okay. Yeah, 'Terry Upscale' may not be the most impressive place to eat in the world, but it was definitely worth a hell of a lot more than Amy was giving it credit for.</p><p>Suddenly Amy twirled around, directing his attention once again onto her. Cocky smirk plastered over her face, she dragged her hand out from behind her back and produced a single napkin. She dropped it mid-air, the small sheet of fabric dancing elegantly from side to side as it gently flew downwards.</p><p>He grabbed it as a reflex, then bunched it up in his fist. God it was soft.</p><p>He looked back at her with narrowed eyes. "Why the napkin, Amy?"</p><p>Her lips curved in a smile. It was a small, self-satisfying thing that rose his blood pressure significantly. She then leaned in closer, copying his actions from earlier.</p><p>The sharp ringing of the kitchen microwave from somewhere behind them caught his focus abruptly. But then she was all up in his ear, whispering in a tight, teasing voice, and all Jake could do was freeze and listen to her intently.</p><p>"Its a little momento to remember your visit here. As much as I appreciate you coming here to 'size us up', there's really no point. We're simply superior."</p><p>Amy then drew back suddenly, walking away from him Her hips swayed back and forth as she moved, made all the more prominent by her confident strut and head held high.</p><p>Jake shifted, eyes darting all over the building. His mouth was held open in a permanent 'O' shape, and he felt his skin heat up in a very different way this time. He took a moment to take in the serene view of the restaurant before turning around and shuffling out, napkin still in hand.</p><p>The cold air hit him like a baseball bat, causing a harsh mixture of temperatures combating his natural body heat, and the heat caused by...</p><p>The jacket. Yeah, his layered leather jacket. Oh how it was warm.</p><p>Jake began to follow the path in front of him, leaving the intimidating building behind him, as well as the snooty people inside it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gina danced across the tough carpet floor, face lifted up in delight as she loudly sung out an old tune that Jake couldn't quite place. Her hands weren't scrubbing very thoroughly, leaving small yellow spots to stain the dingy glasses. Her erratic swaying movements from side to side made it dangerously close for her to drop the delicate glass in her hands, but Jake looked at her for a second, dancing wild and free and so, so at peace, and couldn't bring himself to halt her.</p><p>He chuckled at her softly and then looked back down at the mostly-blank page in front of him, the grin still not wiped off of his face. Gina was kinda mean to him at times, but he knew she had a good heart and a free spirit that, yes, could be irritating, but was also refreshing. Besides, he can't really blame her 'cause that's the way she was raised. That's the way she's always been, ever since they were seven years old and bonded over the absences of their fathers.</p><p>Jake dragged his pen tip over the paper in front of him, leaving a jarring crescent shape directly in the middle. He had hoped to get some writing done in this short break from the restaurant, but no matter how deep he tried to pull himself into the creative pit of his mind, he hadn't managed to get anything onto paper. He sighed heavily, resisting the urge to slam his face down in frustration.</p><p>He didn't know what was wrong with him lately. Beforehand, his mind had been spilling over the edge with inspiration. In fact, the words practically wrote themselves, and he was lucky enough to be brought along for the journey. However, writers block had come for him with a vengeance, putting his delicate craft to a screeching stop.</p><p>"Yo, Jake, I need your phone for a sec." He glanced upwards, and sure enough Gina's deadpan face was looking down on him, cups now absent from her casual hands. Placing the pen to his side, he silently thanked god for this sweet distraction, and regarded Gina with an expression of upmost attentiveness.</p><p>"What's up with yours? You normally always have it with you."</p><p>A very faint redness spread across Gina's cheeks, and she refused to meet his eye. Jake smirked, knowing what that meant.</p><p>"Oooooh. Little miss Linetti been out havin' fun?" He slurred the final syllable. Panic flashed through Gina's eyes briefly, before she reajusted her posture to become more firm and dominant. Shrugging her shoulders, she recovered from her moment of bewilderment and raised an eyebrow at the small man.</p><p>"Listen- it was just some college girl, no biggie. But I don't think you can make fun a' me, when you're not doing nothing with nobody." Jake glared- though withoit menace- at the blonde.</p><p>Yeah, he hadn't been out with anyone in a while, but he was just taking his sweet time and focusing on himself. So sue him.</p><p>Gina narrowed her eyes at him, refusing to relent. She leant down so that they were head-level with one another. A silent staring match had undertaken them, the competition arising swiftly yet very suddenly important to both of them.</p><p>Unfortunately, after many seconds had passed, he felt his eyes begin to sting with desperate pleas for him to blink. Knowing he could not keep it up for longer, Jake slumped his body in defeat and reached into his pocket.</p><p>Gina roared victoriously, her obnoxious yell gathering the attention of the two customers actually daring to eat here.</p><p>Fingers running over his phone, Jake grabbed either side and lifted it up swiftly, arm jerking it towards Gina. But as soon as he did, a clean white strip of fabric was dragged roughly out of his pocket and launched onto the ground.</p><p>Eyes widening, he looked down at it. So did Gina.</p><p>He threw himself forward, hands desperately dragging over the metallic floor to grab the napkin. He prayed to whatever deity listening that he could get there before his co-worker/friend/nuisance.</p><p>But Gina was quicker; launching her body onto the floor without concern for her physical wellbeing, she landed with a large THUMP on top of the piece of material. Jake groaned, raising his body up once more as he prepares for whatever speech Gina was about to give him.</p><p>With an evil laugh drawn straight from her throat, Gina rose to his level, dangling the napkin teasingly on the counter between two fingers. Jake attempted to swipe it from her, but she pulled back just in time.</p><p>"So what's this lil' thingy doing in your pocket? And more importantly, why are you so desperate for me not to have it?"</p><p>She glanced downwards, face contorted as she analysed the fabric. "Who's Amy? And what's this about a barrier?"</p><p>His body tensed, shoulders raising up defensively. He ran a keen hand throigh his messy hair (both a style choice and a convenience) as the name of both their main competition and her were uttered from Gina's sly lip.</p><p>The woman's face seems to light up with excitement as some strange realization seemed to dawn upon her, "Oh girrrl! You got someone's number? Damn Jake. I thought we told eachother everything?" Jake titled his head as his eyes narrowed in confusion. Wait, she had written something on it before passing the napkin to him yesterday?</p><p>He snatched the napkin away from Gina's metaphorically-hungry grasp and for the first time properly gazed at it. In the rush and awkwardness of his encounter with Amy yesterday, he didn't really have time to stare at something a miniscule as a napkin.</p><p>But as he read the neat row of digits adjacent to her scrawled-on name, a surge of confidence and suave went through him. Oh. So Amy was flirting with him....It all made sense now.</p><p>A prideful smirk pulled at his features, as Jake puffed out his chest. Damn straight she was flirting with him, who wouldn't?</p><p>"Don't be getting a big head now, girl. You're still a dork. She probably just felt bad for you."</p><p>Jake's face fell and he wrapped his arms around himself protectively. He bid farewell to his small confidence blip, and welcomed back the familiar self-doubt at the hands of Gina Linetti.</p><p>
  <em>What else was new?</em>
</p><p>Still, a small part of his brain was yelling out to him, pleading for him to not shake the feeling of hope away.</p><p>Maybe this Amy was interested in him. Maybe she was actually flirting with him, in spite of the bitter tone of her words (banter?) and the offputtingly-fast pace she was moving at (pushing away feelings?), not to mention the cocky smirk resting permanently on her face (intrigue?).</p><p>He shook his head. Who was he kidding, thinking that this girl- his sworn enemy and rival to 'Terry Upscale'- would even be remotely interested in him?</p><p>He guessed hope made him see what he wanted to.</p><p>But what did he want to see, exactly? And why did he even care? Jake pondered these questions throughout the rest of the day, unable to shake thoughts of her and that damn number from his mind.</p><p><em>God</em>. Screw her and that stupid cocky smirk. Damn her tranquil voice, with its various intriguing intonations.</p><p>It took a surprisingly long time for him to realise that he shouldn't be thinking about someone he just met this much, and he cursed himself. He shook his head sharply, willing thoughts of her away.</p><p>Only when Terry placed a surprisingly sturdy hand onto his shoulder, did he realise the bright light outside had been coveted with a beckoning dark cloth, and the restaurant was completely barren, save for him and the much broader, larger man.</p><p>"Hey, Jake, it's closing time. I'll let you go ahead and lock up." He placed the keys down onto the counter, "See you later man."</p><p>Jake looked up at him, noticing the dark circles resting prominently under the man's eyes. He sighed, wishing that for once Terry would succumb to his natural exhaustion and return to his family earlier, as opposed to his usual routine of over-working.</p><p>Sympathy tugged at him, "You doin' okay there, Ter? You know you don't gotta stay here all the time. I mean, what about your kids?"</p><p>"Its okay, Jake. I can handle myself. Besides, I also need to take care of my work kids." He stated, staring pointedly at Jake.</p><p>He laughed lightly along with Terry, though inwardly beamed. The truth is, Jake didn't just view Terry as his boss. In fact, he was seen more as a father figure; authoritative, strong-willed, understanding amd compassionate (qualities his own father had very much lacked).</p><p>With one last comforting pat on the back, Terry picked up his belongings with ease and sauntered out of the building.</p><p>His eyes followed after the retreating man, before dragging over the roughened-up restaurant. Jake couldn't help but feel at ease. Strangely, the mess was comforting to him, gave him a sense of familiarity.</p><p>He glanced at the telephone resting against the wall on the corner. Reluctantly, his mind ventured back to the petite girl. He could recall everything from his one encounter with her, from the way her eyebrows furrowed and tightened in concentration, to the inticing darkness of her brown eyes.</p><p>A shiver ran through Jake at the vivid imagery his mind was producing. But that was completely normal, he reasoned- to spend long periods of time thinking about attractive women.</p><p>It didn't matter that it was her specifically.</p><p>Like Gina had said earlier, he hadn't been on a actual date in a long time now. So it made sense why he was noticing more...intimate things about female strangers.</p><p>Though to be fair he was a writer. It was practically his job to notice and analyse people's body language.</p><p>Hm. Maybe he could write something about her.</p><p>
  <em>And her body's language.</em>
</p><p>Snapping himself back to reality, Jake suddenly realised he was standing right in front of the telephone. His hand had ventured into his pocket, once again clutching the now-rugged piece of cloth that Gina had so kindly returned to him.</p><p>Taking a leap of faith, he hastily grabbed at the fabric and pulled it up to his eyesight, clutching the phone in his other hand. He dialed the number, courage driving him, and did not allow himself to think whilst the phone beeped.</p><p>Because if he began thinking, he would realise how bad of an idea this was. How she would probably laugh at him mercilessly before hanging up and spreading the word to absoultely everyone, humiliating him and ruining his reputation so that he would be forced to pack up things and move to Cananda to-</p><p>"Hello, this is Amy Santiago. If you wish to place an order over the phone, I'm sorry to say that we are not running that service at the minute, as 'The Barrier' closed half an hour ago unfortunately. However, I would be more than happy to help you with anything else."</p><p>Despite his small smile at hearing her overly polite greeting, Jake rolled his eyes. It was too late at night for her peppy, enthusiastic voice. Still, it made a nice change to the bleakness that surrounded him.</p><p>Resting his head on his elbow, he tried to mimic her tone. "Well hello there, Amy Santiago. This is Jake Peralta."</p><p>Silence, then a small scoff and...was that a laugh? He blanked, realising that his fears were real- she was laughing at him</p><p>"I'M SORRY WRONG NUMBER-" "I know it's you, Jake Peralta." A soft giggle accompanied her taunting words, and despite himself, he couldn't help laughing too.</p><p>"Oh, well, hi there."</p><p>"Hey."</p><p>A relatively long stretch of silence followed.</p><p>"Peralta, can I help you with something? Or did you just call to try and intimidate me again?" This time her voice was more distant, leading Jake to believe she was continuing her work.</p><p>He frowned. <em>Why wasn't she giving him her full attention? </em></p><p>."So....watcha doing there?" He rocked his head back and forth in comfort, completely content to just sit with her for a while. The heavy clock on the wall counted each dreadfully quite second with a satisfying click. </p><p>Amy hummed, presumably at his sudden subject change, and not even Albert Einstein himself could explain the science behind why that filled his body with such an unwelcome warmth.</p><p>"Working, as usual. You see, I care a great deal about the restaurant I work at."</p><p>Biting back his clever retort, Jake tried to focus on the matter at hand. Putting on the deepest, most seductive voice he could muster, he spoke sensuosly into the phone.</p><p>"Well maybe you could come do me." She was silent for a beat, which Jake took to have meant that she hung up on him.</p><p>Panic tugging at him, he lunged forward for the phone and bellowed out a resounding '<em>I'MSORRYWASTHATTOOFORWARD</em>' before hearing her laughter once more.</p><p>"Peralta, did you think I was...asking you out?"</p><p>He froze, eyes widening and body going completely still as his blood ran cold.</p><p>"Well, you did give me your number so..yeah." He hated how small and uncertain his voice was, especially compared to hers.</p><p>Amy tutted, "That was the restaurant's number. Why else did you think I answered your call talking about serving you?"</p><p>But she....</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>ABORT ABORT.</p><p>"Well...I just thought- you were giving me these...like signals and you're hot and stuff so-"</p><p>He cursed himself for his stammer, and darted forward to press the hang-up button faster than he was sure was humanly possibly (even though he just did it and he was a human- you know what he meant).</p><p>He faceplanted onto the counter amd groaned on impact. Why was he such a loser?</p><p>Her wicked chuckle echoed through Jake's head, facing turning red at the prospect of him completely falling in love with stupid Amy and her stupid neat handwriting. It was all her fault, acting all indifferent and closed-off from him, whilst still challenging him when she felt he deserved it.</p><p>Oh god. <em>She was acting like his father! </em></p><p>
  <em>Is that where the attraction stemmed from?</em>
</p><p>With that horrifying realisation, Jake gathered up his stuff and rushed outside of the building, his only objective to crawl underneath his rough duvet and never surface ever again.</p>
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